Elvis Presley

At 42 years old, Elvis Presley has this physical status:

Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), also known mononymously as Elvis, was an American singer and actor.

Regarded as one of the most significant cultural icons of the 20th century, he is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King". Presley was born in Tupelo, Mississippi, and relocated to Memphis, Tennessee with his family when he was 13 years old.

His music career began there in 1954, recording at Sun Records with producer Sam Phillips, who wanted to bring the sound of African-American music to a wider audience.

Presley, on rhythm acoustic guitar, and accompanied by lead guitarist Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black, was a pioneer of rockabilly, an uptempo, backbeat-driven fusion of country music and rhythm and blues.

In 1955, drummer D.J.Fontana joined to complete the lineup of Presley's classic quartet and RCA Victor acquired his contract in a deal arranged by Colonel Tom Parker, who would manage him for more than two decades.

Presley's first RCA single, "Heartbreak Hotel", was released in January 1956 and became a number-one hit in the United States.

With a series of successful network television appearances and chart-topping records, he became the leading figure of the newly popular sound of rock and roll.

His energized interpretations of songs and sexually provocative performance style, combined with a singularly potent mix of influences across color lines during a transformative era in race relations, made him enormously popular—and controversial. In November 1956, Presley made his film debut in Love Me Tender.

Drafted into military service in 1958, Presley relaunched his recording career two years later with some of his most commercially successful work.

He held few concerts however, and guided by Parker, proceeded to devote much of the 1960s to making Hollywood films and soundtrack albums, most of them critically derided.

In 1968, following a seven-year break from live performances, he returned to the stage in the acclaimed television comeback special Elvis, which led to an extended Las Vegas concert residency and a string of highly profitable tours.

In 1973, Presley gave the first concert by a solo artist to be broadcast around the world, Aloha from Hawaii.

Years of prescription drug abuse severely compromised his health, and he died suddenly in 1977 at his Graceland estate at the age of 42. Presley is the best-selling solo artist in the history of recorded music.

He was commercially successful in many genres, including pop, country, blues, and gospel.

He won three competitive Grammys, received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award at age 36, and has been inducted into multiple music halls of fame.

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Life and career

Elvis Aaron Presley was born in Tupelo, Mississippi, on January 8, 1935, and Miss Grace Presley (née Smith; June 26, 1912 – August 14, 1958) Presley in a two-room shotgun house built for the occasion. Jesse Garson Presley, Elvis' identical twin brother, was born 35 minutes before he was expected to be born. Presley grew close to both parents and developed an intimate relationship with his mother. The family was attending an Assembly of God church, where he got his first musical inspiration.

Vernon, Presley's father, was from Germany, Scotland, and England. Gladys, Presley's mother, was a Scot with traces of Norman ancestry. Morning Dove White, her great-grandmother, was Cherokee, according to his mother and the remainder of the family. Riley Keough, Elvis' granddaughter, recalled this belief in 2017. Elaine Dundy, a biography, supports the belief.

Vernon went from one odd job to the next without much enthusiasm, displaying no enthusiasm. The family had a lot of difficulties getting support from neighbors and government food assistance. Vernon was found guilty of altering a check written by his landowner and sometime employee in 1938. He was sentenced to eight months in prison, but Gladys and Elvis followed him with relatives.

Presley made his first grade at East Tupelo Consolidated in September 1941, where his teachers rated him as "average." Since impressing his schoolteacher with a recreation of Red Foley's country song "Old Shep" during morning prayers, he was encouraged to enter a singing competition. On October 3, 1945, the contest, which took place at the Mississippi–Alabama Fair and Dairy Show, was his first public appearance. The ten-year-old Presley sang "Old Shep" as the ten-year-old presley reached the microphone and performed "Old Shep." He recalled finishing fifth in fifth place. Presley's first guitar was delivered for his birthday a few months back; he had aspired for something else — whether it was a bicycle or a rifle. He received basic guitar lessons from two of his uncles and the new pastor at the family's church over the next year. "I took the guitar and watched people," Presley recalled, and I learned to play a little bit. However, I would never sing in public. I was very worried about it."

Presley began Milam's sixth grade in September 1946; he was considered a loner. He began playing his guitar more often in the upcoming year. He performed and performed at lunchtime, and was often mocked as a "trashy" kid who performed hillbilly music. By then, the family was living in a predominantly black neighborhood. Presley appeared on the Tupelo radio station WELO as a devotee of Mississippi Slim's appearance on the Tupelo radio station WELO. Slim's younger brother, who was one of Presley's classmates and often carried him into the station, was described as "crazy about music." Presley's guitar lesson was supplemented by Slime's demonstration of chord theory. Slim scheduled him for two on-air performances when his protégé was twelve years old. Presley was defeated by stage fright for the first time, but the following week was a success.

The family moved to Memphis, Tennessee, in November 1948. They were given a two-bedroom apartment in the Melbourne Courts public housing project after being in rooming houses for almost a year. Presley was only given a C in music in eighth grade when enrolled at L.C. Humes High School. When his music teacher told him that he had no talent for singing, he took out his guitar and performed "Keep Them Cold Icy Fingers Off Me" a new hit. Later, a classmate announced that Elvis was correct when he said she did not like his kind of singing." He was usually too young to dance openly, and classmates occasionally mocked him as a "mama's boy."

He began playing guitar regularly under Lee Denson's tutelage in 1950, a neighbor two and a half years his senior. They and three other boys, including two future rockabilly pioneers, brothers Dorsey and Johnny Burnette, formed a tight musical group that performed regularly in the Courts. He began working as an usher at Loew's State Theater in September. Precision Tool, Loew's latest updates, and MARL Metal Products were all related to other occupations. Presley went to help Jewish people, the Fruchters, by being their shabbos goy.

Presley began to stand out from his peers in his junior year, mainly due to his appearance: he grew his sideburns and styled his hair with rose oil and Vaseline. In his free time, he will cruise Beale Street, the heart of Memphis' burgeoning blues scene, and gaze longing at Lansky Brothers' colorful, flashy clothing. He was wearing those clothes by his senior year. He appeared in the Humes' Annual "Minstrel" exhibition in April 1953, defying his reticence toward performing outside the Lauderdale Courts. He began with "Live With You," a recent hit for Teresa Brewer, while singing and playing guitar. Presley recalled that his appearance did a lot for his name: "I wasn't well known in school, I wasn't popular in school." I failed in music—the only thing I ever failed at. And then they tagged me in this talent show...and so forth, because nobody knew I even sang. It was amazing how popular I became in school after that."

Presley, who had no formal music instruction and was unable to read music, read and performed by ear. He also frequented record shops that sold jukeboxes and listening booths to customers. He knew all of Hank Snow's songs, and he adored albums by other country singers, including Roy Acuff, Ernest Tubb, Ted Daffan, Jimmie Rodgers, Jimmie Davis, and Bob Wills. Jake Hess, one of his favorites, had a major influence on his ballad-singing style. He appeared regularly at the monthly All-Night Singings downtown, where many of the white gospel bands that performed reflected the influence of African-American spiritual music. He adored the music of black gospel singer Sister Rosetta Tharpe.

He may have attended blues bars, as a result of segregation in the South, but only on nights designated for solely white audiences, as some of his peers. He certainly listened to the regional radio stations, such as WDIA-AM, that were playing "race records": spirituals, blues, and the sleek, backbeat-heavy sound of rhythm and blues. Many of his forthcoming albums were inspired by local African-American musicians such as Arthur Crudup and Rufus Thomas. B.B. : B.B. When they both used to frequent Beale Street, King recalled that he had known Presley before he was popular. Presley had already chosen out music as his future by the time he graduated from high school in June 1953.

Presley toured the Memphis Recording Service, the company owned by Sam Phillips before he founded Sun Records in August 1953. He wanted to record "My Happiness" and "That's When Your Heartaches Begin" in a two-sided acetate disc. He later stated that he intended the album as a birthday gift for his mother, or that he was simply interested in what he "sounded like," even though a nearby general store offered a much cheaper, amateur record-making service. Peter Guralnick, a biographer, said he chose Sun in the hopes of finding it. When asked by receptionist Marion Keisker what kind of singer he was, Presley replied, "I sing all forms." "I don't sound like nobody" when she asked him what he sounded like, he replied repeatedly. Sun boss Sam Phillips begged Keisker to write down the young man's name, which she did with her own commentary: "Good ballad artist." "Hold" is the word that comes first in a hold.

Presley cut a second acetate at Sun Records in January 1954: "I'll Never Stand in Your Way" and "I'll Never Stand in Your Way" and "It Wouldn't Be the Same Without You"—but nothing came of it. He failed an audition for the Songfellows, a local vocal quartet. "They told me I couldn't sing," he told his father. Later, songfellow Jim Hamill said he was turned down because he did not have an ear for harmony at the time. Presley began working for the Crown Electric company as a truck driver in April. Ronnie Smith, who had appeared at a few local gigs with him, suggested that Eddie Bond, the singer of Smith's professional band, be contacted. After a tryout, Bond advised Presley that he avoids truck driving "because you're never going to make it as a singer."

Phillips, on the other hand, was always on the lookout for someone who might bring the sound of the black musicians to a wider audience. "I recall Sam saying, 'If I could find a white man with the Negro sound and the Negro feel, I'd make a billion dollars," Keisker said. He received "Without You," Jimmy Sweeney's demo recording of a ballad, which he thought would be appropriate for the teenage singer. Presley walked by the studio but was unable to do it justice. Despite this, Phillips begged Presley to perform in as many numbers as he could recall. He was sufficiently affected by what he heard from guitarist Winfield "Scotty" Moore and upright bass player Bill Black to work with Presley for a recording session.

The evening of July 5, which was entirely unproductive until late in the night. Presley, a young boy who was set to die and go home, took his guitar and launched Arthur Crudup's "That's All Right" as they were about to stop abort and return home. "All of a sudden, Elvis started singing this song, jumping around and being the fool," Moore said, and Bill followed him, and started behaving like a fool." Sam, I believe, had the door to the control booth open, but he pushed his head out and asked, "What are you doing?" We don't know,' we said.' 'Well, back up,' he said, 'try to find a place to start and do it again.' Phillips tapped quickly; this was the sound he had been waiting for.

On his Red, Hot, and Blue show, Dewey Phillips, a well-known Memphis DJ, performed "That's All Right." Listeners started calling in, eager to find out who the artist was. During the remaining two hours of his show, Phillips maintained the record repeatedly. Phillips, a black man, asked him what high school he attended to clarify his identity for the numerous callers who had mistook him for black. Bill Monroe's "Blue Moon of Kentucky," the trio's first bluegrass song in a distinct style and employing a jury-rigged echo effect that Sam Phillips described as "slapback." On the A-side and "Blue Moon of Kentucky" on the reverse, a single was pressed with "That's All Right" on the A-side and "Blue Moon of Kentucky" on the reverse.

The threesome performed publicly for the first time on July 17 at the Bon Air club—Presley was still sporting his child-size guitar. They appeared at the Overton Park Shell at the end of the month, with Slim Whitman as the headlining. Here is Elvis' 'Rubber Legs,' his signature style dance movement for which he is most well-known. Presley's legs screamed as he performed, as he performed: a combination of his strong reaction to rhythm and a tense audience caused him to erupted: his wide-cut pants emphasised his movements, prompting young women in the audience to start yelling. "He'll pull off from the microphone and be playing and joking, and the audience will go wild," Moore said. Black, a natural showman, whooped and rode his bass, took double licks that Presley would later recall as "really a wild sound, like a jungle drum or something."

Moore and Black's old band, the Starlite Wranglers, joined Presley for weekly, and DJ/promoter Bob Neal became the trio's manager soon after. Presley was consistently on stage from August to October, and then returned to Sun Studio for more recording sessions, and Presley gradually became more comfortable on stage. "His movement was a natural thing, but he was also keen on what got a reaction," Moore said. He'd try something one time and then expand on it as soon as possible." On October 2, Presley performed what would be his first appearance on Grand Ole Opry in Nashville; after a polite audience reaction, Opry chief Jim Denny told Phillips that his artist was "not bad," but not appropriate for the style.

Presley appeared on Louisiana Hayride, Opry's top commander and a more adventurous competitor in November 1954. The Shreveport-based program was syndicated to 198 radio stations in 28 states. During the first set, Presley had another blast of nerves, despite a muted reaction. A more cohesive and upbeat second set sparked an ecstatic response. D. J. Fontana, a House drummer, added a new element to Presley's moves by announcing that he had competed in strip clubs, emphasizing the fact that he had mastered the sport. The Hayride recruited Presley for a year's worth of Saturday-night appearances right after the show. He purchased a Martin guitar for $8 (equivalent to $1,800 in 2021) and his three children started playing in new locales, including Houston, Texas, and Texarkana, Arkansas.

Many fledgling artists, including Minnie Pearl, Johnny Horton, and Johnny Cash, performed the praises of Louisiana Hayride sponsor Southern Maid Donuts, including Presley, who began a lifelong obsession with doughnuts. Presley performed his singular product endorsement commercial for the doughnut company, which had never been announced, by way of a radio jingle "in exchange for a box of hot glazed doughnuts."

Presley made his first television appearance on Louisiana Hayride's KSLA-TV television program. On the CBS television network, Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts failed an audition within a few weeks. Presley's regular Hayride appearances, regular touring, and well-received record launches made him a regional celebrity, from Tennessee to West Texas. Neal signed a formal management contract with Presley in January and attracted the attention of Colonel Tom Parker, who is regarded as the best promoter of the music industry. Parker, who appeared to be from West Virginia (he was really Dutch), had been granted an honorary colonel's commission from country singer and Louisiana governor Jimmie Davis. Parker, who had achieved success with top country singer Eddy Arnold, was working with Hank Snow, the current number one country singer. On Snow's February tour, Parker booked Presley. Roy Orbison, a 19-year-old boy from Odessa, Texas, saw Presley for the first time: "His energy was incredible, his intuition was just amazing." ... a lovely woman in a sarcastic way. I just didn't know what to do with it. There was just no reference point in the culture to compare it." By August, Sun had earned ten sides of "Elvis Presley, Scotty, and Bill"; on the new recordings, the trio was joined by a drummer. "That's All Right" was among the songs on "R&B idiom of negro field jazz," one Memphis reporter put it; others, such as "Blue Moon of Kentucky," were "more in the country field," but "a curious blending of the two genres in both" was "most surprising." Presley's music was impossible to obtain radio airplay due to a mashup of styles. Many country-music disc jockeys would not play it because he sounded too much like a black artist, and no of the rhythm-and-blues stations would touch him because "he sounded too much like a hillbilly," Neal said. The mixture was first described as rockabilly. Presley was also known as "The King of Western Bop," "The Hillbilly Cat," and "The Memphis Flash" at the time.

Presley renewed Neal's management deal in August 1955, while simultaneously naming Parker as his special advisor. Throughout the second half of the year, the organization maintained a full touring schedule. "The reaction that came from the teenage boys from Elvis was almost frightening," Neal recalled. So many of them would practically hate him out of jealousy, which would lead to some form of jealousy. We'd have to be vigilant of a police guard in certain towns in Texas, because someone'd always try to crack him. They'd hire a band and threaten to waylay him or something." When Hayride drummer Fontana arrived as a full member, the trio became a quartet. They appeared at few shows in mid-October to promote Bill Haley, whose "Rock Around the Clock" album had been a top-one hit this year. Presley had a natural rhythm, according to Haley, who advised him to sing fewer ballads.

Presley was named the year's top male artist at the Country Disc Jockey Convention in early November. Several major retailers had already expressed an interest in signing him by now. Parker and Phillips signed a RCA Victor deal on November 21 to buy Presley's Sun contract for an unprecedented $40,000. After three major labels made bids of up to $25,000, Parker and Phillips signed a multi-year contract for $15,000. Presley, 20, was still a teenager, so his father agreed. Parker arranged for Elvis Presley Music and Gladys Music, Jean and Julian Aberbach, to handle all of Presley's new content. In exchange for requesting him to perform their compositions, songwriters were obliged to forego one-third of their customary royalties. RCA Victor had begun to heavily promote its new artist by December, and many of his Sun records had been reissued by the end of the month.

Presley made his first recordings for RCA Victor in Nashville on January 10, 1956. The alleged Presley's by-now customary backup of Moore, Black, Fontana, and Hayride pianist Floyd Cramer, who had been performing at live clubs dates with Presley, include Gordon Stoker of the famous Jordanaires quartet. The session culminated in the moody, rare "Heartbreak Hotel," which was released as a single on January 27. Presley was finally on national television, having him appear on CBS' Stage Show for six weeks in a row. The program, which was based in New York, was hosted on alternate weeks by major band leaders and brothers Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey. Presley made his debut on January 28, and stayed in town to record at the RCA Victor New York studio. The sessions resulted in eight songs, including a recreation of Carl Perkins' rockabilly anthem "Blue Suede Shoes." Presley's "I Forgot to Forget" a Sun album that was originally released in August, climbed to the top of the Billboard country charts in February. Neal's deal was terminated, and Parker took over Presley's manager on March 2.

On March 23, RCA Victor unveiled Presley's self-titled debut album. Sun Records' seven recently released songs were of a variety, with five of them previously unveiled. There were two country songs and a bouncing pop tune on display. According to critic Robert Hilburn, "Blue Suede Shoes"—"an improvement over Perkins' in about every way"—are among Presley's stage repertoire's most popular music, alongside Little Richard, Ray Charles, and The Drifters. These "weren't the most revealing of all," Hilburn said. Presley reshaped many white artists, who watered down the gritty edges of the original R&B versions of songs in the 1950s. In all three cases, he not only injected the tunes with his own vocal voice but also made guitar, not piano. It was the first rock and roll album to top the Billboard charts, the first rock and roll chart to be ranked in the top ten weeks, a ten-week record. While Presley was not an innovative guitarist like Moore or contemporary African-American rockers Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry, cultural historian Gilbert B. Rodman argued that the album's cover photo, "of Elvis having the time of his life on stage with a guitar in his hands, played a significant role in positioning the guitar as the instrument that best represented the style and spirit of this new music."

Presley made the first of two appearances on NBC's Milton Berle Show on April 3, 2009. His appearance on the deck of the USS Hancock in San Diego, California, prompted cheers and screams from a crowd of sailors and their dates. Presley and his band were returning to Nashville for a recording session, but the plane was almost down over Arkansas when an engine died and the plane nearly went down. "Heartbreak Hotel" became Presley's first number one pop sensation twelve weeks after its initial release. Presley began a two-week stay at the New Frontier Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip in late April. The shows were poorly received by the conservative, middle-aged hotel guests, "like a jug of corn whiskey at a champagne party," a Newsweek observer wrote. Presley, a Vegas native with ardent acting aspirations, has signed a seven-year deal with Paramount Pictures. In mid-May, he began a tour of the Midwest, visiting 15 cities in as many days. He had attended several shows in Vegas by Freddie Bell and the Bellboys, but they were struck by their cover of "Hound Dog," which had been a hit for blues singer Big Mama Thornton in 1953 by songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. It was the new closing number of his show. After a performance in La Crosse, Wisconsin, an urgent message regarding the local Catholic diocese's newspaper's letterhead was sent to FBI director J. Edgar Hoover. "Presley is a significant threat to the United States' stability," the newspaper said. [His] behavior and gestures were so as to ignite teenage sexual appetites. More than 1,000 teenagers attempted to gang into Presley's room at the auditorium following the performance. ... The two high school girls were pictured in La Crosse, with their abdomen and thigh containing Presley's autograph.

In the middle of another tumultuous tour, Milton Berle Show appearance came at NBC's Hollywood studio on June 5. "Let em see you, son," Berle begged Presley to abandon his guitar backstage. Presley abruptly stopped an uptempo version of "Hound Dog" with a wave of his arm and launched into a stumbling, exaggerated body movements during the performance. The gyrations of Presley sparked a storm of scandal. "Mr. Presley has no discernible singing talent," television critics wrote about the New York Times. ... His phrasing, if it can be called that, is based on the stereotyped versions that go with a beginner's aria in a bathtub. "His one speciality is an accentuated movement of the body, mainly identified with the burlesque runway's repertoire. One Elvis Presley's 'grunt and groin' antics, according to Ben Gross of the New York Daily News, popular music "has reached its lowest depths in the 'grunt and groin' antics of the nas' antics. ... Elvis, who rotates his pelvis... opened an exhibition that was suggestive and vulgar, teeing with the sort of animalism that should be restricted to dives and bordellos. Ed Sullivan, the country's most famous variety show, has declared him "unfit for family viewing." He soon discovered himself to be referred to as "Elvis the Pelvis," a pre-teen word that Presley referred to as "one of the most childish expressions I had ever heard, comin' from an adult."

The Berle shows attracted such high viewership that Presley was scheduled for a July 1 appearance on NBC's Steve Allen Show in New York. Allen, who is not a fan of rock and roll, has donned a "new Elvis" in a white bow tie and black tails. For less than a minute to a basset hound wearing a top hat and bow tie, Presley sang "Hound Dog." "Allen thought Presley was stupid and ridiculous, [he] set it up so that Presley would display his contrition," television historian Jake Austen said. Allen later discovered Presley's "strange, gangly, country-boy charisma, his refusal-to-define cuteness, and his charming eccentricity were all delightful" and "integrate him into the program's customary "comedy fabric," according to Allen. "I'm keeping an eye on this show," Presley told a reporter just before the show's final rehearsal. I don't want to do anything to make people dislike me. I think television is important, so I'm going to go along, but I won't be able to do the kind of show I do in a personal appearance." Presley will recall the Allen show as his most bizarre appearance of his career. He appeared on Hy Gardner Calling, a common local television show, later that night. Presley responded when asked whether he had learned anything from the criticism to which he was exposed, saying, "No, I haven't, I don't feel like I'm doing something wrong." ... When it is solely music, I don't see how any form of music would have a negative influence on people. ... How can rock'n' roll music make someone protest against their parents?

"Hound Dog" appeared on the radio the next day, as well as "Any Way You Want Me" and "Don't Be Cruel." The Jordanaires harmonied on The Steve Allen Exhibition; they would work with Presley through the 1960s. Presley appeared outside a Memphis concert on Sunday, and he announced, "You know, those people in New York are not going to change me." I'm going to show you what the authentic Elvis looks like today." Presley was ordered to tame his behavior by a judge in Jacksonville, Florida, in August. He largely stayed the same throughout his appearance, except for wagging his little finger suggestively in mockery of the order. For 11 weeks, the single pairing "Don't Be Cruel" with "Hound Dog" reigned the top of the charts, a record that would not be beat for 36 years. During the first week of September, recording sessions for Presley's second album took place in Hollywood. "Love Me" was written by Leiber and Stoller, the authors of "Hound Dog."

Allen's show with Presley topped CBS' Ed Sullivan Show in the ratings for the first time. Despite his June declaration, Sullivan sold Presley for three appearances at a historic $50,000. Around 60 million viewers watched the first show on September 9, 1956—a record 82.6 percent of the television audience. While Sullivan was recovering from a car accident, actor Charles Laughton hosted the program, filling in when Sullivan was recovering from a car accident. That night, Presley appeared in two segments from CBS Television City in Los Angeles. Presley was shot only from the waist up, according to Elvis legend Elvis. Sullivan had opined that Presley "had some sort of thing hanging down below his crotch of his pants," Sullivan said, although he moved his legs back and forth to see the outline of his cock. ... It's likely that it's a Coke bottle, which I believe. We just can't have this on a Sunday night.

This is a family show!"

"The whole thing can be controlled with camera shots," Sullivan told TV Guide, "as for his gyrations." In fact, Presley was seen head-to-toe in the first and second shows. Despite the fact that the camerawork was minimal on his debut, with leg-concealing closeups as he danced, the studio audience responded in customary fashion: screaming. Presley's debut of his forthcoming single, "Love Me Tender," resulted in a record-breaking million advance order. More than any other single event, it was Presley's first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, making him a national celebrity of barely recognized proportions.

Accompanying Presley's ascension to fame, a cultural shift was taking place that he both inspired and represented. Presley brought rock'n'roll into the mainstream of popular culture, according to historian Marty Jezer. "As Presley set the artistic pace, other artists followed." Presley, more than anyone else, gave the youth a belief in themselves as a distinct and somehow united generation, the first in America to understand the power of an integrated youth culture.

The audience reaction to Presley's live performances became more vehement. Moore recalled, "He'd start out, but a Hound Dog" and the kids' would have to go to the ruins. They'd always respond in the same way. Any time," There would be a protest. 50 National Guardsmen were sent to the police station in September at the Mississippi–Alabama Fair and Dairy Show to ensure that the audience did not cause a ruckus. Elvis, Presley's second RCA Victor album, was released in October and quickly climbed to number one on the billboard. The album features "Old Shep," a talent show performed in 1945, and it was the first time he performed piano on an RCA Victor session. One can hear "in the stumbling chords and the somewhat stumbling rhythm both the unexpected emotion and the unmistakable value of emotion over technique," Guralnick says. "These records, more than any others, contain the inspirations of what rock and roll has been and will most likely become," a rock critic wrote.

On October 28, Presley returned to the Sullivan show in New York's main studio, which this time by its namesake. Following the success, people in Nashville and St. Louis burned him in effigy. Love Me Tender, his first motion picture, was released on November 21. Despite being not top-billed, the film's original title, The Reno Brothers, was renamed to capitalize on his new number one hit: "Love Me Tender" had risen to the top of the charts earlier this month. Four musical numbers were added to what had been a pure acting role to help Presley's fame. Critics panned the film, but the box office did a good job. Presley will make the most money on every subsequent film he made.

Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis were recording and performing an impromptu jam session with Johnny Cash on December 4, 2006. Despite the fact that Phillips no longer had the right to post any Presley content, he made sure that the recording was caught on tape. The results, which were not officially released for 25 years, have been referred to as the "Million Dollar Quartet" on record. The year came to an end with a front-page article in the Wall Street Journal claiming that Presley merchandise earned $22 million on top of his record sales, as well as Billboard's boast that he had more songs in the top 100 than any other artist since records were first charted. Presley had account for over 51% of the company's singles revenue in his first full year at RCA Victor, then the nation's largest firm, and then at the top of the charts, accounting for more than half of the label's total number.

On January 6, 1957, Presley made his third and final Ed Sullivan Show appearance, although this time he only shot to the waist. According to some commentators, Parker orchestrated a display of censorship in order to gain attention. Presley "did not tie himself down" in any case, as Greil Marcus points out. He stepped out in the outlandish costume of a pasha, if not a harem teen, leaving behind the bland clothes he had adorned on the first two shows. He was playing Rudolph Valentino in The Sheik from the make-up over his eyes, the hair falling in his face, and the overwhelmingly sexual cast of his mouth." Presley performed a delicate black spiritual, "Peace in the Valley" to come to an end, revealing his imagination and defying Sullivan's wishes. Sullivan branded Presley "a true gentleman, fine boy" at the end of the performance. The Memphis draft board revealed the Presley would be classified 1-A and that it would almost be drafted sometime next year.

Each of the three Presley singles released in the first half of 1957 went to number one: "Too Much," "All Shook Up," and "Let Me Be Your Bear" was on the top of the charts. And if his music was not yet known, he was already attracting fans even where his name wasn't even known. Presseds of his music on discarded X-ray plates were selling in Leningrad, with the headline "Presley Records a Craze in Soviet." Presley, 22, had enough time to buy an 18-room mansion Graceland on March 19, 1957, worth $102,500 between film shoots and recording sessions. The mansion, which was about 9 miles (14 km) south of downtown Memphis, was for himself and his families. Elvis recorded Loving You, the soundtrack to his second film that was released in July, leading up to his purchase. It was Presley's third straight number-one record. Leiber and Stoller, who were then hired to write four of the six songs recorded at the sessions for Jailhouse Rock, Presley's next film, wrote the title track. The Jailhouse team created the Jailhouse sessions with a strong working relationship with Presley, who came to see them as his "good luck charm." "He was quick," Leiber said. "Any demo you gave him he knew by heart in ten minutes." The title track was still a top-one hit, as was the Jailhouse Rock EP.

Throughout the year, Presley undertook three brief tours, with continued to attract a crazed audience response. "The challenge with going to see Elvis Presley is that you're going to be killed," a Detroit newspaper said. In Philadelphia, Villanova students pelted him with eggs, and the audience in Vancouver erupted after the show ended, destroying the stage. Frank Sinatra, who inspired both the swooning and yelling of teenage girls in the 1940s, has written a book about the new musical phenomenon. In a magazine article, he criticized rock and roll as "brutal, ugly, degenerate, vicious." ...... It instills in young people almost entirely negative and destructive responses. It smells both phoney and false. For the most part, cretinous goons sing, wrote, and wrote it. ..... "I deplore this rancid-smelling aphrodisiac." "I admire the man," Presley said as a response. He has the right to say what he wants to say. He is a natural performer and a natural actor, but I don't believe he should have said it. ... This is a trend, just as bad as he faced when he first started years ago."

Elvis' Christmas Album's Leiber and Stoller were back in the studio for the recording of Elvis' Christmas Album. They wrote "Santa Claus Is Back in Town" an innuendo-laden blues near the end of the session. Presley's string of number one albums stretched Presley's run of number one albums to four and will be the top-selling Christmas album in the United States, with estimated revenues of over 20 million worldwide. Moore and Black, who were earning only modest weekly salaries and not aware of Presley's continuing financial success, resigned after the session. Although they were returned to Presley's inner circle for a few weeks, it was evident that they had not been a part of Presley's inner circle for some time. Presley was given his draft notice on December 20, which was on December 20. He was granted a deferral to complete the forthcoming King Creole, which had already invested $350,000 by Paramount and producer Hal Wallis. "Don't" another Leiber and Stoller tune, became Presley's tenth top-one seller a few weeks into the new year. For the first time, it had only been 21 months since "Heartbreak Hotel" had taken him to the top for the first time. In mid-January 1958, recording sessions for the King Creole soundtrack were held in Hollywood. Three songs were on hand, and Presley and the pair were back for a second visit, but it would be Presley and the duo's last meeting together. Presley's boss and entourage tried to keep him off: "He was dismissed," Stoller recalled later. ... They kept him separate. On February 11, a brief soundtrack session brought a close to an end—it was the last time Black was to appear with Presley. He died in 1965.

Presley was drafted into the United States Army at Fort Chaffee, Arkansas, on March 24, 1958. His arrival in New York marked a major media event. Hundreds of protesters descended on Presley as he stepped from the bus; photographers followed him into the palace. Presley said he was looking forward to his military service, and that he did not want to be treated any differently than anyone else: "The Army does whatever it wants with me."

Presley completed basic and advanced military training at Fort Hood, Texas, where he was temporarily assigned to Company A, 2d Medium Tank Battalion, 37th Armor, between March 28 and September 17, 1958. Presley recorded five songs in Nashville during his two weeks of rest between his basic and advanced training in early June. His mother was diagnosed with hepatitis in early August, and his illness rapidly escalated. On August 12, he was granted emergency leave to visit her and arrived in Memphis. She died of heart disease at the age of 46 two days later. Presley was devastated and never the same; their friendship had remained strong well into adulthood; even as adults, they would use baby talk with each other and Presley would greet her with pet names.

Presley was sent to the 1st Medium Tank Battalion, 3d Armored Division, at Ray Barracks, Germany, where he served as an armour intelligence specialist from October 1, 1958. He was promoted to private first class on November 27, 1959, to specialist fourth class on June 1, 1959. Presley was introduced to amphetamines by another soldier while on maneuvers. He became "practically evangelical about their healthcare," not just for energy but also for "strength" and weight loss, and many of his coworkers joined him in indulging. The Army also introduced Presley to karate, which he also studied seriously, along the Jürgen Seydel. It became a lifelong passion that he later included in his live shows. Despite Presley's fame and charity, fellow soldiers have testified to his desire to be seen as a compassionate, ordinary soldier. He donated his Army money to charity, bought TV sets for the base, and bought an extra set of fatigues for every member of his outfit.

Presley met 14-year-old Priscilla Beaulieu while in Bad Nauheim, Germany. After a seven-and-a-half courtship, they will marry. Priscilla said in her autobiography that Presley was concerned that his 24-month stint as a G.I. Will ruin his future. He may have been able to perform musical appearances and remain in touch with the public in Special Services, but Parker had warned him that to gain widespread recognition, he should represent his country as a regular soldier. Presley's questions about his future were echoed by media reports, but RCA Victor producer Steve Sholes and Freddy Bienstock of Hill and Range, who were patiently preparing for his two-year absence. They continued to see a steady stream of profitable launches despite being armoured with a substantial amount of unreleased information. Presley had ten top 40 hits between his induction and disconnection, including "Wear My Ring Around Your Neck," the best-selling "Hard Headed Woman," and "One Night" in 1958, as well as "Now and Then" and "A Big Hunk o' Love." RCA Victor also published four albums compiling previously released recordings from this period, the most popular of which was Elvis' Golden Records (1958), which debuted at number three on the LP charts.

On February 11, 1960, Presley was promoted to sergeant.

Presley returned to the United States on March 2, 1960, and was honorably discharged three days later with the rank of sergeant. The train carrying him from New Jersey to Tennessee was packed all the way, and Presley was ordered to appear at scheduled stops to please his fans. He arrived in RCA Victor's Nashville studio on March 20 to cut tracks for a new album and a single, "Stuck on You," which was rushed to release and quickly became a number-one hit. A two-week session later produced two of his best-selling singles, the ballads "It's Now or Never" and "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" two weeks later.

", along with the rest of Elvis Is Back!

Several songs on the album have been described by Greil Marcus as "complete of Chicago blues," owing to Presley's own super-miked acoustic guitar, superb playing by Scotty Moore, and Boots Randolph's demonic sax work. Elvis' singing wasn't sexy, it was pornographic." According to music historian John Robertson, the album "conjured up the image of a young performer with a heart of gold; a vivacious, risky love; a sophisticated nightclub entertainer; a raucous rocker." It debuted only days after the recording was finished, and it reached number two on the album chart.

Presley appeared on television on May 12 as a guest on The Frank Sinatra Timex Special, which was surprising for both actors considering Sinatra's earlier excoriation of rock and roll. The show had been taped in late March, Presley's first appearance in front of an audience all year. Parker received an unhearduous $125,000 fee for eight minutes of singing. The show attracted a large audience.

G.I. Blues, the soundtrack to Presley's first film since his return, was a top-one album in October. His Hand in Mine, his first LP of sacred stuff, came two months later. It debuted at number 13 on the US pop chart and number 3 in the United Kingdom, as one of the country's top three artists on a gospel chart. Presley appeared twice at a benefit concert in Memphis in February 1961 on behalf of 24 local charities. RCA Victor honoured him with a plaque at the event that shows worldwide sales of over 75 million dollars. Presley's next studio album, Something for Everyone, was a 12-hour Nashville session in mid-March. It exemplifies the Nashville sound, the repressed, cosmopolitan style that would define country music in the 1960s, as demonstrated by John Robertson. The album, which claims a significant portion of what was to come from Presley himself over the next two decades, is largely "a pleasant, unthreatening pastiche of Elvis's birthright." It would be his sixth number-one LP. On March 25, in Hawaii, there was another benefit concert aimed at a Pearl Harbor memorial. It was expected to be Presley's last public performance for seven years.

Parker had pushed Presley into a heavy filmmaking schedule, focusing on formulaic, modestly budgeted musical comedies. Presley, the first, continued to pursue higher roles, but when two films in a more dramatic vein —Flaming Star (1960) and Wild in the Country (1961) —weren't as popular, he reverted to the formula. There were a few more exceptions in the 27 films he made during the 1960s. His films were almost universally panned; critic Andrew Caine called them a "pantheon of bad taste." Despite this, they were still profitable. "A Presley photograph is the only sure thing in Hollywood," Hal Wallis, who made nine of them, said.

Of Presley's films in the 1960s, 15 were followed by soundtrack albums and five more by soundtrack EPs, and another 5 were preceded by soundtrack albums, while the other 5 were followed by soundtrack EPs. His music was influenced by the films' brisk production and release schedules—he appeared in three films in a year—and it had a major effect on his music. The soundtrack formula was already apparent before Presley left for the Army: "three ballads, one medium-tempo [number], one up-tempo, and one break blues boogie," Jerry Leiber said. The quality of the soundtrack albums deteriorated "progressively" as the decade came to an end. Julie Parrish, who appeared in Paradise, Hawaiian Style (1966), claims he disliked many of the songs selected for his films. Gordon Stoker of the Jordanaires describes how Presley would withdraw from the studio mic: "The stuff was so bad that he didn't have a clue." The majority of the film albums featured a song or two from respected writers, such as Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman's team. However, the figures, by and large, appeared to be "written on order by men who never fully understood Elvis or rock and roll." Despite the songs' quality, Presley has been accused of doing them well, with dedication. "Presley isn't trying, possibly the correct option in the face of things such as 'No Room to Rumba in a Sports Car" and 'Rock-A-Hula Baby,'" critic Dave Marsh said.

Three of Presley's soundtrack albums were ranked first on the pop charts in the first half of the decade, and a few of his most well-known songs were from his films, such as "Can't Help Falling in Love" (1961) and "Return to Sender" (1962). ("Viva Las Vegas," the title track to the 1964 film, was a minor hit on a B-side and became very popular only later). However, the commercial returns have gradually decreased as a result of artistic excellence. Presley had just one top-ten hit during the five years (1964 to 1968), one of the few notable gospel hits on the page in 1960. Presley's gospel album How Great Thou Art (1967), a non-film album dating from June 1962 to the release of the soundtrack to his television debut on his comeback. It was his first Grammy Award for Best Sacred Performance. Presley was "arguably the best white gospel singer of his day [and] absolutely the last rock & roll artist to make gospel as important a facet of his musical identity as his secular songs," Marsh said.

Presley suggested to Priscilla Beaulieu shortly before Christmas 1966, more than seven years since they first met. They were married in 1967 in their Aladdin Hotel's suite in Las Vegas. The steady stream of formulaic films and assembly-line soundtracks continued. It was not until October 1967, when the Clambake soundtrack LP reached new low sales for a new Presley album that RCA executives recognized a problem. "Well, of course, the harm had been done," historians Connie Kirchberg and Marc Hendrickx put it. "Elvis was seen as a prank by serious music enthusiasts and a has-been to many but his most devoted followers."

Lisa Marie, Presley's only child, was born on February 1, 1968, a time when he had been severely unhappy with his work. Of the eight Presley singles released between January 1967 and May 1968, only two charted in the top 40, with none higher than number 28. Speedway's forthcoming soundtrack album, which will debut at number 82 on the Billboard charts, will debut at number 82. Parker had already committed to television, where Presley had not appeared on television since the Sinatra Timex show in 1960. He negotiated an agreement with NBC that required the network to both fund a dramatic performance and broadcast a Christmas special.

The special, which simply called Elvis, aired in late June in Burbank, California, and was broadcast on December 3, 1968. The show, which later became known as the '68 Comeback Special,' featured lavishly staged studio performances as well as songs performed with a band in front of a small audience, Presley's first live performances since 1961. Presley appeared in tight black leather, singing and playing guitar in an uninhibited style reminiscent of his early rock and roll days. Steve Binder, the director and co-producer, had to produce a show that was far from the ones that had been planned for. The show, NBC's most rated on record, attracted 42 percent of the total viewing audience. "Watching a man who has lost himself find his way back home is something magical," Eye magazine's Jon Landau said. He performed with the kind of power that people no longer associate with rock 'n' roll singers. Jim Morrison must have turned his body with a lack of pretension and an determination that might have made him green with envy." The result, according to Dave Marsh, is one of "emotional major and historical resonance."

The single "If I Can Dream" — written for the special — reached number 12 by January 1969. The soundtrack album debuted in the top ten. According to friend Jerry Schilling, the special reminded Presley of what "he had not been able to do for years," as he was able to choose the artists; not being told what songs had to be on the soundtrack; and not being told what was supposed to be on the soundtrack. ... "He was out of prison, man." "I played Elvis the 60-minute show," Binder said of Presley, and he told me in the screening room, 'Steve, it's the best thing I've ever done in my life." I give you my word: "I will never sing a song I don't believe in."

Presley, who was inspired by the success of the Comeback Special, embarked on a string of recording sessions at American Sound Studio, which culminated in the success of From Elvis in Memphis. It was his first secular, non-soundtrack album from a dedicated period in the studio in eight years, and it was released in June 1969. It's "a masterpiece" in which Presley instantly connects with pop music styles that had previously seemed to have passed him by during the movie years, as described by Dave Marsh. He performs country songs, soul songs, and rockers with a deep sense of pride, which is a remarkable feat." "In the Ghetto," the album's first non-gospel top ten hits since "Bossa Nova Baby" in 1963, and the hit single "In the Ghetto" debuted in April, which reached number three on the pop charts. "Suspicious Minds," "Don't Cry Daddy," and "Kentucky Rain" were among the American Sound sessions' hit singles.

Presley was keen to resume live performance. Offers came from around the world in reaction to the Comeback Special's success. Parker was charged $20,000 (equivalent to $207,000 in 2021) for a one-week engagement at the London Palladium. "That's fine for me, now how much can you get for Elvis?" he said. The brand-new International Hotel in Las Vegas, boasting the city's biggest showroom, announced that it had booked Presley in May. He was scheduled to appear in 57 shows over the course of four weeks, beginning on July 31. Moore, Fontana, and the Jordanaires declined to participate, afraid of losing the lucrative session work they had in Nashville. Presley produced a new, top-notch accompaniment, led by guitarist James Burton and incorporating two gospel groups, The Imperials and Sweet Inspirations. Bill Belew, a costume designer whose job was responsible for the Comeback Special's intense leather look, created a new stage look for Presley based on Presley's passion for karate. Nonetheless, he was worried: his only previous Las Vegas appearance, which was in 1956, had been dismal. Parker, who planned to make Presley's return the year's show business case, oversaw a major advertising campaign. Kirk Kerkorian, the founder of the International Hotel Corporation, arranged for his own plane to fly in rock journalists for his debut.

Presley had no introduction. After his appearance, a crowd of 2,200 people, including many celebrities, gave him a standing ovation. "Can't Help Falling in Love" was his third album to close (a song that would be his last number for a large part of his remaining life). Presley gestured toward Fats Domino, who was on the scene, at a press conference after the show, as a journalist referred to him as "The King." "That's the true king of rock and roll," Presley said. Parker's talks with the hotel culminated in a five-year deal for Presley, which includes a salary of $1 million per year. "There are several amazing things about Elvis, but the most surprising is his tenacity in a world where meteoric careers fade like shooting stars," Newsweek said. Presley was described as "incredible, his own revival" by Rolling Stone. Change of Habit, Presley's last non-concert film, opened in November. The double album From Memphis to Memphis came out in the same month; the first LP featured live performances from the International, the second of more cuts from the American Sound sessions. "Suspicious Minds" became the top of the charts, Presley's first U.S. pop poll in over seven years and his first in South Korea.

Cassandra Peterson, later television's Elvira, met Presley in Las Vegas, where she was working as a showgirl. "He was so anti-drug when I first met him," she recalled of their encounter. I told him that I smoked marijuana, but he was only shocked. "Don't ever do that again," the narrator said. Presley was not just anti-recreational drugs; he also stopped drinking alcohol frequently. Several of his family members were alcoholics, which he had to escape from.

Presley appeared at the International in 1970 for the first of the year's two-month engagements, with two shows a night. On Stage, recordings from these performances were released. Presley held six attendance-record-breaking shows at the Houston Astrodome in late February. The single "The Wonder of You" was released in April, and it was a number one hit in the United Kingdom, despite the fact that it topped the US adult contemporary chart as well. At the International Film Festival in August, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer filmed rehearsal and concert video for the film Elvis: That's the Way It Is. Presley was in a jumping suit, which would be a signature of his live show. He was charged with murder during this tour unless US$50,000 (equivalent to $349,000 in 2021) was paid. Since the 1950s, Presley had been the victim of many assaults, most without his knowledge. For the next two shows, the FBI took the threat seriously, and covert was beefed up. Presley arrived onstage with a Derringer in his right boot and a.45 pistol in his waistband, but the concerts were uneventful.

The album, That's the Way It Is, was released to accompany the documentary and featured both studio and live recordings, demonstrating a stylistic shift. "The authority of Presley's singing helped mask the fact that the album moved decisively away from the American roots inspiration of the Memphis sessions to a more middle-of-the-road sound," music critic John Robertson said. With country's back burners, passion, and R&B left in Memphis, what was left was a very sophisticated, pristine white pop—ideal for the Las Vegas crowd but a concrete retrograde step for Elvis. Presley began a week of international tours on September 7, much of the South, his first since 1958. Another week on the West Coast will be followed in November.

Presley engineered a meeting with President Richard Nixon on December 21, 1970, where he expressed his patriotism and explained how he could reach out to the hippies to help combat the drug culture that he and the president abhorred. Nixon requested that a Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs badge be attached to similar items he had started amassing and to signify official sanction of his patriotic efforts. Nixon, who evidently found the whole affair uncomfortable, expressed the hope that Presley could give a positive message to young people and that, as a result, he should "retain his good name." Presley told Nixon that the Beatles, whose songs he performed in concert throughout the period, epitomized what he saw as a trend of anti-Americanism. In August 1965, Presley and his friends enjoyed a four-hour reunion with the Beatles at his Bel Air, California. Paul McCartney later said that he "felt a bit betrayed" after hearing reports of the meeting. ... We were taking [illegal] medications and seeing what happened to him," the joke went, referring to Presley's early death related to prescription drug use.

The United States has the highest unemployment rate in the United States. On January 16, 1971, the Junior Chamber of Commerce named Presley as one of the country's Top Young Men of the Year. The City of Memphis named the stretch of Highway 51 South on which Graceland is located, "Elvis Presley Boulevard" not long after. Presley earned the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences' (formerly known as the Bing Crosby Award) in the same year. In 1971, three new, non-film Presley studio albums were released, in the same number as many as had been out over the past eight years. Elvis Country, a concept record that concentrated on genre standards, was the best received by critics. According to Greil Marcus, Elvis Sings the Wonderful World of Christmas was the best seller. "Anyone sung with a slew of genteel Christmas songs, every one sung with appalling sincerity and humility, one could find Elvis tom-catting his way through six blazing minutes of 'Merry Christmas Babies,' a raunchy old Charles Brown blues.' ... If [Presley's] sin was his lifelessness, it was his sinlessness that brought him to life."

MGM filmed Presley in April 1972, this time for Elvis on Tour, which went on to win the Golden Globe Award for Best Documentary Film of the year's Golden Globe Awards. His gospel album He Touched Me, which was released in the month, would earn him his second Grammy Award for Best Inspirational Performance for that year's Grammy Awards. At Madison Square Garden in New York, a 14-date tour debuted with four sold-out shows in a row. A week later, the evening concert on July 10 was recorded and released in LP form. Elvis: As recorded at Madison Square Garden, one of Presley's most popular albums, "As Recorded" became one of the band's best-selling albums. Following the tour, Presley's single "Burning Love" was released, marking Presley's last top ten hit on the US pop chart. "The most exciting single Elvis has made since 'All Shook Up,'" wrote rock critic Robert Christgau. "It's coming closer, the flames are now licking my body," says James Brown's backup band.

Presley and his wife, on the other hand, had become increasingly distant, barely cohabiting. Joyce Bova's affair in 1971 brought him—unknown to him—in her pregnancy and an abortion. He has often speculated that she might have migrated to Graceland, saying that he was likely to leave Priscilla. The Presleys separated on February 23, 1972, after Priscilla revealed her friendship with Mike Stone, a karate instructor Presley had recommended to her. Presley "grabbed... and forcefully proposed love to" her, according to Priscilla, "This is how a genuine man makes love to his woman." She later admitted in an interview that she regretted her choice of words in describing the event and that it had been an overstatement. Linda Thompson, a singer and one-time Memphis beauty queen, and Presley's new bride, Linda Thompson, arrived with him five months later. On August 18, Presley and his wife filed for divorce. Presley's marriage "was a blow from which he never recovered," according to Imperial historian Joe Moscheo. A reporter had asked Presley if he was happy with his appearance at a rare press conference in June. "Well, the picture is one thing, and the human being another... it's really difficult to live up to an image," Presley said.

Presley appeared in two charity concerts for the Kui Lee Cancer Fund in connection with a groundbreaking television program entitled Aloha from Hawaii, which would be the first solo artist to be broadcast nationally. If technical issues affected the live broadcast two days later, the first show was used as a training run and back-up plan. Aloha from Hawaii aired live on satellite to prime-time audiences in Japan, South Korea, Thailand, the Philippines, Australia, and New Zealand, as well as to U.S. servicemen stationed throughout Southeast Asia on January 14. It smashed viewing records in Japan, where it marked a national Elvis Presley Week. It was simulcast to 28 European countries on Saturday, and in April, an extended version debuted in the United States, where it captured 56% of the television audience. Parker's argument that it was seen by one billion or more people would be widely accepted in the future, but that figure seemed to have been sheer invention. Presley's stage costume became the most popular example of his elaborate concert garb, with which his latter-day persona was closely associated. "At the end of the show, when he spreads out his American Eagle cape with the eagle studded on the back, he becomes a god figure," Bobbie Ann Mason said. The accompanying double album, which was released in February, soared to number one and has now sold over 5 million copies in the United States. It was Presley's last U.S. top-one pop album of his lifetime.

Four men rushed into the stage in an apparent assault at a midnight show the same month. Security forces came to Presley's defense, and one invader was ejected from the stage himself. Following the show, he became obsessed with the fact that the guys had been sent by Mike Stone to murder him. Though they were supposed to have been merely overbearing supporters, he raged, "I'm too pain in me." "Stone [must] die" cried. His outbursts sparked such ferocity that a physician was unable to calm him, despite giving large doses of medicine. After two days of raging, Red West, his friend and bodyguard, felt compelled to pay for a contract murder, but was relieved when Presley said, "Aw hell, let's just leave it for now." It's likely that it's a little heavy."

Presley's divorce was finalized on October 9, 1973. By this time, his health had already fallen into decline. He overdosed on barbiturates three times in a coma in his hotel suite after the first incident in the year. He was hospitalized, semi-comatose as a result of a pethidine use near the end of 1973, about half of the disease. "He wasn't the normal everyday junkie getting something off the street," Presley's primary care physician, Dr. George C. Nichopoulos, said. He had staged more live shows each year, and 1973 saw 168 concerts, his busiest schedule ever. Despite his poor health, in 1974, he embarked on a new touring program.

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